Right now, everyone is talking about the “fiscal cliff” - the potential crisis that will occur if our elected lawmakers are unable to extend tax cuts and avert millions of dollars in spending cuts that will take effect in the New Year.
As the deadline approaches, you may be wondering what impact, if any, would the fiscal cliff have on your FICO Score?
The good news is that there is no direct effect on the score associated with the main factors driving the potential fiscal cliff. Your income and the amount of taxes you pay are not considered in the calculation of your FICO Score.
However, the failure to extend the tax cuts and/or avert spending cuts could have a negative indirect effect on credit scores. Most experts agree that just about every … [Read more...]

Our FICO Labs team has taken a fresh look at national distribution of FICO Scores. With a couple of interesting exceptions, we found that consumer scores are continuing their slow return to a pre-recession pattern.
The first two years of the recession (2008-2009) moved the scores for millions of people into the lowest (300-499) and the highest (800-850) segments of the FICO Score range. Correspondingly fewer people had scores in the middle range (600-749). In an earlier post, I explained why these separate shifts happened.
This flattening of the distribution curve peaked in 2009-2010 and has since slowly been reversing. However, the latest numbers suggest two unusual patterns in this recovery. First, the quantity of people with very low … [Read more...]

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FICO, myFICO, Score Watch, The score lenders use, and The Score That Matters are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation. Equifax Credit Report is a trademark of Equifax, Inc. and its affiliated companies. Many factors affect your FICO
Score and the interest rates you may receive. Fair Isaac is not a credit repair
organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair
Organizations Act. Fair Isaac does not provide "credit repair" services or advice or
assistance regarding "rebuilding" or "improving" your credit record, credit history or
credit rating.
FTC's website on credit.